


The Worst Hanukkah Ever

by AsterRoc



Category: 30 Days of Night (2007)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Extras, Gen, Jewish Character, Jewish Holidays, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-13
Updated: 2014-03-13
Packaged: 2018-01-15 13:29:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1306621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsterRoc/pseuds/AsterRoc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Rachel is the only Jew in Barrow, Alaska, she moved there just this past Summer, and she realizes too late that she doesn’t know when to light the menorah.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Worst Hanukkah Ever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [APgeeksout](https://archiveofourown.org/users/APgeeksout/gifts).



Rachel is the only Jew in Barrow, Alaska, she moved there just this past Summer, and she realizes too late that she doesn’t know when to light the menorah. When the Sun never rises it also never sets, and the candles are supposed to be lit at sunset. There is no one in the town that she can actually ask. Under normal circumstances she would have gone to the internet, but what with all the power and communication down due to the vampires, that’s not going to happen. She decides to simply pick 6pm local time as sundown, as she'd rather do her best to honor the Lord even if she makes mistakes, than to not attempt it at all. 

But what is worse in her mind though, is that the purpose of the menorah is not to light the house within, but to light the house without. Rachel comforts herself in the knowledge that during World War II, the Jews hidden in Germany must have kept their menorahs concealed from the street, and so in the same spirit she does the same. 

For the first seven nights hiding by herself in the cellar of her house, with only a few canned goods left in the storage, she manages to hide the candles from being seen from the outside. On the eighth night though, after the blizzard passes, Rachel hears the ruckus outside. She leaves the menorah burning in the cellar, tiptoes up the stairs, and peeks out one of the windows. Maybe she wasn’t stealthy enough, or maybe the little bit of light from the candles leaking out from the cellar when she opened the door was enough for the vampires to see, because the first thing she sees when she peeks her head over the windowsill is a fast dark shape bounding towards her. 

Everything goes white.

**Author's Note:**

> To make the dates work, in my new headcanon the film is set in Winter 2006-2007, when Hanukkah started Dec 16. (This is consistent with the film’s release date of Oct 19, 2007.) The 30 days of night have to be centered on the Winter Solstice, Dec 21st, so they have to be the dates of Dec 6 – Jan 10 (plus or minus a day since I can’t count). (In reality, the Sun is actually down for 65 days in Barrow, Alaska, but there’s no reason to correct that in this fic.) A discussion of possible solutions to Rachel’s question of when to light the candles can be found [here](http://www.star-k.org/articles/articles/travel/515/when-does-one-pray-when-there-is-no-day/) [link updated 12/24/2015].
> 
> And I've a new headcanon as of 16 May 2016: Rachel came to Barrow to [count whales](http://www.adn.com/article/bowhead-whales-see-huge-population-rebound-alaskas-north-slope).


End file.
